| Druze Village of Daliat haCarmel, Israel
The Northern Branch of the Women's Interfaith Encounter
held a celebration of International Women's Week, in the Druze
village of Daliat haCarmel on the topic of the Status of Women
in the Druze community. One hundred Muslim, Christian, Jewish,
and Druze women attended from many different villages, towns,
and kibbutzim. Tzafi Makladeh led us in a tour of Daliat beginning
with a visit to Yad Lebanim where we saw a moving memorial
to the over 280 fallen soldiers from the community and heard
about their burial and mourning customs as well as their beliefs
in reincarnation. We also saw their memorial to Yitzhak Rabin
and their shrine to their prophet Jethro and had a lovely
walk through the hills to the Community Center.
Iptisam and Randa opened our meeting by lighting our candle
and bringing in the energy of women all over the world. Mara
read a beautiful statement from the international Gathering
of Women taking place all week -- about gathering strength
from our mothers and grandmothers and all the women who have
come before us. We heard an informative talk from Muna Hazsun
about the status of Druze women. She stressed that Druze women
are encouraged to study and work and have advanced in many
professions. Religious women study and teach their religion
and do not drive. Their community is very strong because they
all live together and marry within their own community.
During spirited small group discussions, Muslim, Christian,
Jewish, and Druze women discussed our common struggles within
patriarchal religions and societies and our hopes for our
daughters to have an easier time. One day later a 14 year
old girl from Daliat haCarmel was killed in the terrorist
bombing of the bus in Haifa. When I spoke to Siham, our Druze
coordinator, she told me the girl was the daughter of her
cousin and the whole village is in mourning. We sent our condolences
to the family. We are all bound together in the mutual suffering
of our situation, the tragic deaths of innocent children,
and find comfort within our mutual study and supportive relationships.
The Coordinators in the North are now planning a Study Day
to look at a topic of relevance to women from the point of
view of the four religions. We welcome Mara List who is our
new Jewish Coordinator for the North. We continue to strengthen
our process of getting to know and understand each other through
religious study and discussion of our lives and struggles
as women.
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